The affairs of the world are no more than so much trickery, and a man who toils for money or honor or whatever else in deference to the wishes of others, rather than because his own desire or needs lead him to do so, will always be a fool.
—Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, 1774Quotes
It is impossible to tell which of the two dispositions we find in men is more harmful in a republic, that which seeks to maintain an established position or that which has none but seeks to acquire it.
—Niccolò Machiavelli, c. 1515Out of the crooked timber of humanity no straight thing was ever made.
—Immanuel Kant, 1784O citizens, first acquire wealth; you can practice virtue afterward.
—Horace, c. 8 BCLet him who desires peace prepare for war.
—Vegetius, c. 385I shall be an autocrat: that’s my trade. And the good Lord will forgive me: that’s his.
—Catherine the Great, c. 1796Politics, n. A strife of interests masquerading as a contest of principles. The conduct of public affairs for private advantage.
—Ambrose Bierce, 1906A government which robs Peter to pay Paul can always count on the support of Paul.
—George Bernard Shaw, 1944Every country has the government it deserves.
—Joseph de Maistre, 1811You campaign in poetry. You govern in prose.
—Mario Cuomo, 1985No free man shall be taken or imprisoned or dispossessed or outlawed or exiled, or in any way destroyed, nor will we go upon him, nor will we send against him except by the lawful judgment of his peers or by the law of the land.
—Magna Carta, 1215Do that which consists in taking no action, and order will prevail.
—Laozi, c. 500 BCThe Revolution is made by man, but man must forge his revolutionary spirit from day to day.
—Che Guevara, 1968